THE NEED FOR ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH OF THE WORLDS OF THE DEVOUT MEMBERS OF THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

Abstract

Restoration of the Serbian Orthodox Church into the public sphere driven by nationalism based on the returning to the roots, among other things, resulted in converting a number of people into the doctrinal (Eastern) Orthodoxy creating a, so to speak, theologically conscious community of believers, educated in Orthodoxy and to which Eastern Orthodoxy isn’t just an identity determinant but also a living world and habitus. In this article, I state that the conversion of the wider population into nationalism preceded and triggered the conversion into the doctrinal Orthodoxy. But what happens after the conversion is the creation of the worlds that become independent and which create a network of orientations, styles and views of life that need to be ethnographically researched in order to gain insight into wider identity motions and the political–ideological dynamics of the Serbian society.